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I do feel that, unlike Crypto, AI (or, to drop the buzzwords, LLMs and other machine-learning based language processors and parsers) will end up having a place in the world.
As it is NOW, the AI hype train is definitely an investment bubble and it will definitely explode in a glorious fashion eventually. Taking a lot of people down with it.
But unlike Crypto, AI does -- It like does things, you know? Even if I personally feel like it's mostly only good for a toy, all my attempts to use it for anything society would deem "valuable" were frustrated, but at least I can RP with it when my friends aren't available. It is a thing that exists and can be used.
Crypto was funny because it was literally useless. Just an incredibly wasteful techno-fetishistic speculative vehicle with precisely zero shame about being that.
As for what's next, I think Quantum Computing might be it. That is, assuming the Tech Industry even survives the bubble's burst in its current form. Because everyone in the industry is putting all their eggs including theoretical eggs that haven't even been laid, and in fact there's not even a chicken in this AI hype train. And even with AI becoming part of people's lives, as I predict it indeed will, when the bubble does burst it might end up hitting the reset button on who is truly in charge of things.
Of course people think crypto "doesn't do anything" when most people don't even understand how investments or tech in general works.
There is actually a lot going on with crypto. It's just that people who aren't plugged in won't really care... : https://ethereumadoption.com/
A Marxist Cryptobro
Can I put you in a glass display case? You are an incredibly rare and incredibly strange specimen.
Read Blockchain Radicals, there's more of us than you think. Dozens!
Make no mistake though, I view crypto as simply a technological tool to get us from A to B. From the cryptoleftist subreddit:
Bitcoin or any other specific crypto / blockchain project will not get us to socialism. This is first and foremost an ANTI-capitalist community (this should be the bare minimum to calling oneself a leftist), so please, we don't want to encourage some of the worst aspects of both capitalism and crypto currency like speculation and trading. We don't care if you do it, but there are other communities out there for that.
That said, there's some cool work being done on Breadchain for coops and workers: laborDAO, the ReFi (regenerative finance) movement, etc.
Crypto can be an important tool to:
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protect the unbanked,underbanked, and even banked from the exploitative financial system: we’re making progress
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remove US hegemonic power by undermining the dominance of the US dollar: we’re making progress, but some like USDC are actually reinforcing American dominance
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move away from capitalism and asset speculation to collective ownership (governance tokens), trade of useful goods (digital or physical), and savings protocols: we’re not making very much progress and are actively moving against this
🤔
WELL. I will concede on the thing about american dollar hegemony. Even I, a crypto hater, would be stupid to pretend cryptocurrency didn't at all move the needle on that. I've seen it benefit third world people with my eyes (I live in the third world, hi)
Other than that I'll just nod and say 'yes' because I really don't care enough to research into crypto (imma h8r), so I'll assume you're right. [nods] "yes"
That said. MAN, you must hate the kind of company you end up stuck with. Crypto as far as I know is MOSTLY very weird AnCap typesThat said. MAN, you must hate the kind of company you end up stuck with. Crypto as far as I know is MOSTLY very weird AnCap types
Crypto indeed is a weird af place. I hate 99.99% of the projects and the people here. The culture is insufferable. But there is space to build projects that actually help working people.
imma h8r
Why though? It's just tech. It's neither good nor bad. It can be used for good (public goods funding, donations to causes that might otherwise be blocked, paying artists a la patreon, governance voting via DAOs, etc) or bad (speculative markets, BAYC, memecoins, rugpulls, etc).
Why though?
Two things, really. First, I'm not a tech guy. I'm a writer with mild interest in technology and science. The whole thing is drowned in jargon and it honestly feels to me like a lot of it is intentional. If something a. Is very complicated; b. Doesn't hook me; and c. It is not my job to know it... I can't be arsed to research it.
Second, and more relevant if less respectable -- Negative emotional vibes. Too many bad experiences with The Worst People On The Internet (tm) being all over crypto.
Both of those reasons are valid and fair.
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You are talking about crypto after the hype. But actually the idea before the hype was pretty cool. It was basically to allow safe payments around the world without any government control needed.
In my city there were a few shops that took Bitcoin back then and a cup of coffee was something like 2 Bitcoin.
This is exactly the same at the dot.com boom and bust. After the crash the internet didn't go anywhere, and look at where we are now. The same will (unfortunately) happen with AI.